Ship-Sponsored or Independent Shore Excursions: Which Is Right for You?
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All the tours we wanted to take had been already taken and/or in progress. We got the usual sorry BS letter, they refunded our payment and gave us each a $50 certificate for another excursion with them. Most tour operators catering to cruisers understand that weather patterns can change your ship's itinerary, causing you to arrive on a different day or skip the port completely.
Cruise ship tours don't venture off the beaten path
We used Viator in New Zealand when none of the ship tours appealed to us. If you go to their site you can click on "shore excursions" and then put in your port (I think that's the order it was). Our tour in Tauranga picked us up right outside the port area, a very short walk from the ship. Cost is always a factor, whether you're a cruise line or cruise traveler. When planning excursions in new destinations, a cruise line will talk to multiple tour operators to find the provider with the best prices and reputation, as well as a variety of creative and unique tours.
If you're on a budget, balance tour and non-tour days.
In New Orleans picked up at hotel, in Iceland picked up directly at pier. We are going going to zip line in St. Lucia and the ships excursion does not go to the Treetop Adventure Park. Some people worry when navigating a foreign language without a guide to help translate. Others are concerned about getting lost in an unfamiliar city or fear they're missing out on the cultural and historical context if they can't read signs in another language.
COMPANY
Most prices are more expensive than booking directly with the excursion company directly. When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. Ship tours will accommodate schedule changes, but that's not always the case with private excursions. For ports close to a downtown area or the beach, you don't need a tour to enjoy your day. Take a cab to the beach, window shop in town or grab lunch at a local eatery.
When to Book Shore Excursions Through Your Cruise Line
I didn't need a guide for that, and I was happy to get away from the tour bus hordes for a few hours. Get recommendations from a co-worker, a friend or online travel forums ahead of time. Don't be shy about asking crew members or shop, gallery or restaurant workers for the best conch salad in Nassau in the Bahamas or a locals' beach. You might find yourself gazing out to sea at a family-owned shack by the side of the road while having an amazing local meal or enjoying a quiet strip of sand while your shipmates are herded around in tour buses. Sure, you could pop off the ship and flag down a person holding a sign advertising a tour, but how will you have time to check review sites to make sure they're legit?
When I dock in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, I hail a taxi to Grand Case on the French side and opt out of ship-sponsored tours. That means I'm not one of 50 people still in line for a pain au chocolat at a bakery while the motorcoach driver tells me I have "five more minutes." When choosing tours, consult the activity level for terms like "moderate" or "strenuous," and also look for the number of miles walked, kayaked or biked. That said, I brought up the rear on a Scenic Cruises vineyard bicycling tour in Bordeaux, France, due to the ship's surprisingly active seniors. To go at your own pace, rather than the group's, you're better off on your own. It's trickier to change your mind when you have to call or email a third-party provider, and that company may have different cancellation policies.
When you sign on to an existing third-party tour, instead of filling up a motorcoach, you will probably be one of fewer than 20 people hopping in a van or spreading out on a bus. Book a private tour for your travel party, and it might be just you and your group. Because everyone on the tour is a passenger on your ship, there is no way the ship will leave without your group back on board. Communications between the shore excursion guide and your ship are tight, and if the tour runs late due to traffic or another reason, the ship will wait for your bus to return. We are going on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean and would normally book the the cruise line for excursions.
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Often, their cancellation policies cover these itinerary changes — especially if it's a group tour, rather than a private guide. However, there might not be room to accommodate you on a popular tour on the revised date or arrival. In some cases, cruise lines really go to a lot of effort to offer special shore excursions and tour opportunities. Paul Gauguin Cruises, for instance, has its own scuba diving program in the South Pacific with onboard PADI instructors and ship-conducted dive trips. This applies particularly in Europe, where some of the most important destinations -- i.e., Paris, Rome, Florence and London -- are one to three hours away, depending on traffic, from where cruise ships dock.
You might be out of luck if your itinerary changes
Although hiking and kayaking outings have been added to ship-sponsored shore tour rosters in recent years, these active excursions cater to the average cruiser and not athletes. What's strenuous to you and what's strenuous to the average Holland America traveler might be completely different. If you're a fitness buff or an experienced hiker, biker and/or kayaker, you might be disappointed.
Plus, you could conceivably find yourself stranded someplace remote if something were to go wrong. Following is a set of rough rules that will help you decide between booking independent cruise excursions or booking cruise line travel. As has already been mentioned, ViaTour is a tour wholesaler, just like the cruise line, booking tours from local companies. The only thing that remedy did was ruin another vacation day a year later in Punta Cana! On March 23rd, 2017, we again used Viator's catamaran/snorkel vendor, El Gringo Excursions. Again we had multiple communications between Viator's, the vendor and us about the exact time and meeting place for our pick up.
Many cruise lines mark activity levels in shore excursion descriptions, but it's up to travelers to understand the definitions and to be realistic about their own abilities. (If you're not clear on how active a tour is, ask the destinations team onboard your ship for clarification.) Book a tour that's too difficult and you will have a bad experience -- and possibly hold up the other tour participants. If you know you have mobility issues, look for the best tours for your needs. For example, Witsoe says, if you're looking at castle tours across several ports and one has an elevator to the top and the others don't, prioritize that tour. When a small cruise line like Windstar creates shore excursions, it aims to create an experience it would be difficult or time consuming for the average traveler to research and replicate. "We want people to feel like they paid for expert advice and got what they wanted to see," says Witsoe.
A rock-climbing tour probably isn't going to partner with a large cruise ship. Even that hike or bike ride offered through the cruise line will be fairly easy. If exerting adrenaline is a must, go off on your own or find a local guide. You can tailor the day's activities to your fitness level and skill and go at your preferred pace. Snorkeling, sailing and scuba diving expeditions in major water sports ports, such as the Caribbean's St. Thomas or Grand Cayman, are good bets for independent cruise excursions.
We've been on some fine tours both in the Caribbean and in Europe offered by local tour companies, which we then book by email or on their website. We find these companies through Trip Advisor, using the Ports of Call forums here, as well as the Roll Call for the cruise we are sailing. Windstar offers between four and seven tours in every port; mega-ships offer even more choices in each destination.
It appears the prices have doubled since our last experience and found a booking company thru TripAdvisor's reviews called Viator and hoping someone might have experience if they are reliable to book excursions. Then the team fills in with complementary tours, which might visit other area attractions or focus on special interests like cooking or biking. If you walk off the ship and sign up for a tour with the first company you see, you could end up on a dud of a tour because you don't know a thing about the provider or, worse, find yourself in an unsafe situation. Whether you book your guide in advance or make a last-minute game plan on the pier, you are on the hook to do your homework, look up reviews and make sure the provider is legit. After lunch on the beach in Bridgetown, Barbados, I took a short taxi downtown, stopped in the locals' version of a dime store and strolled through a farmer's market.
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